Online Course & Home Retreat

1 week – 1 day – 1 hour

The course is designed to bring the retreat to you and to your home.
The lessons of the Bodhisattva Training course focus on the application of Mahayana and Vajrayana principles to working with others. It offers a concentrated period of practice and study of the beloved text, the Bodhicaryavatara — Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life.

Click Here for Full Curriculum Description and Course Details

Module One – Natural Heroism
Generating Enthusiasm
Power of Intention
Cultivating Enlightened Intent
Inseparability of Oneself and Others’ Benefit
The Equality of Self and Others
Clearing Negative Karma
Aspiration & Action
Living a Life of Service
Accomplishing Limitless Benefit in Limited Time
Training the Mind
Freedom from Sorrow
Cultivating Joy
Mind Training
Discerning What is Most Important
Haters, Enemies, & Obstacle Makers
Tonglen Meditation
The Bodhisattva Vow

Seven Daily Sessions 
The class will meet once a day for seven days online to do meditation practice, study a passage from the text and have a discussion. The daily classes will last 90 minutes. They will meet every night at 6pm PST / 9pm EST (except Wednesday, which will meet at 7:15pm PST / 10:15pm EST).

One-Day Workshop
On the eighth day, you will attend two sessions. In the first session, you will meet in an online group workshop to prepare for taking bodhisattva vows. If you have already taken your bodhisattva vows, you may prepare for renewing them at this time. This session will be lead by Aruna Rigdzin and Satya Shiva.

In the second session, you will take your vow with Pema Khandro Rinpoche.

One-Hour Closing Ceremony
The Bodhisattva Training Module will culminate in a one-hour meditation and final teaching with Pema Khandro.

This course is an interactive online course. During each teaching, you will be on screen live with your camera on, in a virtual classroom with the other students.

Students who successfully complete one module are invited to participate in the Bodhisattva Training refresher meetings with Pema Khandro Rinpoche which will take place three to five times yearly when there is a fifth Wednesday of the month.

Training Schedule
*Participants are strongly advised to attend all the Live Online Sessions in Real Time.
**Videos will be posted within 48 hours and will remain accessible for 30 days.

• Saturday, Sept 30 – Tuesday, Oct 3rd:  Live Online Class
  • 6pm PST / 9pm EST

• Wednesday, Oct 4
  • 7:15pm PST / 10:15pm EST

• Thursday, Oct 5 – Friday, Oct 6
  • 6pm PST / 9pm EST

• Saturday, Oct 7:  Live Online Group Workshop
  • 10am – 12pm PST / 1pm – 3pm EST

• Saturday, Oct 7:  Private Meetings and Bodhisattva Vow Ceremony w/Pema Khandro
  • Individually scheduled

• Sunday, Oct 8:  Final Meditation and Transmission
  • 6pm PST / 9pm EST

Limited Enrollment

In order to facilitate an intimate setting – we have an enrollment limit of twenty-five students. Because of limited enrollment, the course is limited to students who can attend the entire course live in real time. However, the videos will be available for 30 days afterward to watch again as a resource for students.

If there are currently 25 participants in the Bodhisattva Training, you may be on the waiting list to join when another place opens up.

Member Discounts
*Membership discounts apply to Tuition Only
**Use your membership discount code at checkout.
10% discount  –  Supporter Members
20% discount  –  Mandala Holders
50% discount  –  Snow Lion Members
100% discount  –  Sustainers and above

Click Here to Learn More about Membership

   

Pre-requisites:

• Completed Application
• Interview with Pema Khandro
• “Mandala Holder” Level Membership or Higher
• Engaged in a Leadership Role
  • 
This class is geared towards leaders, teachers, counselors and other helping professions. This requirement may also be fulfilled by being a meditation teacher in any tradition, or group leader or have attended one training with Pema Khandro (Meditation Instructor Training or Group Leader Training) to attend.
  • If a student has been a Vajrayana Training student for at least six months and is in a leadership role in their lives, they are eligible to attend the course. 
Inquire at info@BuddhistYogis.org

This course is based on the influential Buddhist text, The Bodhisattva’s Way of Life by Shantideva, a fourteenth-century Mahayana Buddhist text focused on putting Buddhism into action through a life of clear intention and altruistic service.

Tuition

• Early Bird Tuition: $600 Registration by July 1st, plus suggested teacher donation $108
• Regular Tuition: $695 July 1st – Sept 1st, plus suggested teacher donation $108
• Late Tuition: $$750 after Sept 1st, plus suggested teacher donation of $108
• Free Tuition for ‘Sustainer Members’: with minimum three-month pledge
• 50% Off Tuition for ‘Snow Lion Members’: with minimum six-month pledge
• Other Member Discounts Available: See Membership for details
• Registration Fee: 50% non-refundable deposit is due upon registration to reserve space in the course, balance due by September 21, 2017.
• Remaining Openings: Course is limited to 25 students. 5 Spaces Remaining.
• Financial aid considerations: The course costs are set at a minimum fee already, with financial aid built into all tuition rates. Because we are a non-profit organization, the costs of all activities and overhead of our organization must be covered by the participants of the courses. For those who are experiencing genuine financial hardship and wish to enroll in the course, two financial aid scholarships at a 50% discount are available. Financial Aid applications are due by August 1st.

  

On Natural Heroism

“It’s time for a story of a new kind of hero and heroine. The time has passed for the outdated story of the hero who conquers through aggression and is doomed to be isolated from the people he loves the most. The story of the successful CEO that dies of a stress-induced heart attack at a young age must also fade into the past. It’s time for a new hero story to emerge – time for a story of new leadership to emerge. The hero/ine and leader of the future are based on courage, compassion, and connection. It is based on service and vision. It is based on another kind of strength besides aggression – the power of communication, and the strength that comes from love and humor.

There are some legends like this in Buddhism, stories of dharma heroes and heroines who conquered the cause of war altogether by finding impeccable awareness. In these legends, the key was always magic. A secret we have to realize is that this magic isn’t about super-powers – it is the magic of having unrelenting enlightened intent (bodhichitta). This doesn’t have to remain the stuff of legends. This can be the story of a new leadership, a new hero, a new heroine who shows up in the world with a clarity of being that is itself transformative. The telling of that story is up to us – we must live it and be it in a world that has largely lost sight of skillful means as a possibility. Each one of us should do what we can to bring whatever rays of sanity we can to dark times. We can’t wait until we are perfect, or have more time. We have to act on our most enlightened intentions in daily life now. There are no small acts. It all adds up. So this bodhichitta way of being is a matter of discipline; a discipline of bringing constant vigilance to our actions.

This is the message behind Buddhist teachings on karma: we have to question our motivations and mindsets. Because aggression and compulsive busy-ness that has no vision behind it permeates our cultural mindset, we must be vigilant. We must also be prepared. Our training must be thorough, in-depth, and constant—, interwoven with our daily lives. We are called to a way of being that is beyond brute force – the path of skillful engagement on the uneasy ground of real life circumstances. Showing up with the mindset on awakening to the power of our everyday existence opens up the kind of epic space where we can be heroic—for the benefit of ourselves and all beings”

~ Pema Khandro

www.PemaKhandro.org